Hanging with Marina

I was really digging the aqua hues of the water in these photos so I decided to go with a mono-chromatic look on this layout. I love how it turned out but I must admit, I had to add a little colour in the title area ... I guess I couldn't 100% commit to the mono-chromatic.

In order to make my waves have a little dimension, I decided to add flock to the crests making it look more like crashing waves.  I've had flock for years but never really used it. I think the reason was I didn't have the correct glue. I recently got some PVA glue to use with some Flower Soft (as it is what the manufacturer recommends) and when I read the instructions it said it could be used with flock and glitter so I figured I would give it try. I must admit; I love how it turned out and it feels so neat!

Splash!

This photo makes me laugh.  It's so one of those Murphy's Law moments.  We were at the dolphin enclosure and the water was flipping cold.  I had been in the waist deep water for a little while and finally gotten used to the cold water.  I turned to my friends and husband to say that I was finally used to the water and then as soon as I turned around I lost my balance and plunged, 100% submerged, into the icy water.  Why is it that always happens?!

Playing In The Mud

I think one of my favorite things I did in Cuba was take a Jeep tour. It was so much fun and we got to see much of the Matanzas countryside and how the locals live. I would recommend it to anyone who goes to Cuba to take this tour!

I really wanted to create mud puddles on may page as most of the photos were of us driving through the mud so I used Tim Holtz' crackle paint and created a bunch of really think blobs so that I would get maximum crackage!  Looks like real mud, I think.

I also created this really cool rugged flower, which was almost easy to make.  I say almost because I used the wrong type of adhesive and struggled a lot with getting it to stay together.  I am going to attempt another one tonight with a different type of adhesive so check back tomorrow and I might have a tutorial on how to make it!

Cruising Down the Matanzas River

Pretty simple layout here that I created at a crop this past weekend. It was one of the few I actually got done; I guess I was too busy chatting and laughing!  Everything about this layout was built around the blue patterned paper.  To me, it just felt like water so I had to use it.  I love how it turned out!

I Think We Just Got Married

So this layout has quite a funny story. While we were on our Jeep tour in Cuba, we stopped for this river boat tour. After the tour, we were greeted by some local natives who performed a customary dance for us. Some how Steve and I got pulled into dance. It was a lot of fun and at the end of it we got "marked" by the Shaman with green paint on our cheeks. Steve and I were joking that we thought that maybe we had been married off to a local but couldn't tell for sure seeing as we didn't understand a word being said!

I'm starting to really get into Kraft paper lately.  For the longest time, I really disliked it and I mean really!  The last time I was in the states I bought a pack of Kraft paper because it was unbelievably cheap and I figured I could figure out one way to use it.  Boy am I ever glad I did.  What do you think of my painting ability, my un-uniform and un-evenly spaced white dots?  I know not that great but I wanted to mimic the body paint all the dancers were wearing and I decided to embrace the imperfection!

I completed this layout at a crop this past weekend and I just wanted to send out a thank you to Kim because without her help in the letter department, my title would not have come together so nicely.  She talked me into the pink letters which I was hesistant about but now that it is all done I really like it!